Clothed in Christ

As we talk about where or who you once were apart from Christ, then we must also talk about where you now are and who you now are in Christ. The Scriptures talk about putting on Christ. That is, you are clothed in Christ. In a sense, Jesus is not only in you, He is on you, all around you, covering you from head to toe.

He covers you for grace and for good. He covers up your sins so that you appear as He is, transformed in garments brilliantly white. The blotch of sin and death is no longer your identity, but rather, the brilliance and sinlessness of Jesus Christ.

How can this be? Because your faith in Jesus is reckoned to you as righteousness, as if you were clothed in the white robe of Jesus, Himself. This meal represents the body and blood of Christ, given for you that completely covers you inside and out. Clothed in Christ, there is nothing else you need in order to stand in the presence of God without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Glory be to God in the Highest. Amen.

Jesus Sent For You

12/23/2018

Dear Saints, we are waiting for Christmas, waiting for a Messiah, waiting for Jesus. The Father sent the Son to save His people, those beloved ones that bear the name of God, who have been baptized into Christ. This is you plural, y’all, the body of Christ. What a blessing to be a part of the people of God, saved from their enemies of sin and death.

         If Jesus was sent for you plural, y’all, then He was necessarily sent for you, singular, you personally. For many of us, this truth is too wonderful for us. We know ourselves and have a hard time believing that God would set His love upon us, personally, and send His Son to live and die for us. But He has done this. Jesus was sent for you. Rejoice and give thanks.

Colossians 3:1-17 Put Off Put On

Colossians 3:1-17

Put Off, Put On

December 23, 2018

Lynchburg, Virginia

EXHORDIUM

         He just told us various ways in which we cannot be helped along in our Christian faith. The lies of pseudo-science, agnostic academia, and man-made religion all subvert our growth in Christ and lead to damnation for those who abandon Jesus and the way, the truth and the life. 

So, how do we walk in this newness of life in Jesus Christ? He says that we have put off the old ways and are to put on the new ways. The Bible elsewhere speaks of this as being clothed in Christ. We have put off the garments stained by our old man of sin and have put on the new man of righteousness, our Savior Jesus. So, since you are clothed in Jesus, then walk around in Jesus.

EXEGESIS

Col. 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

         Where is Jesus Christ? He is at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. In Heaven, the Lord’s will is done perfectly. We pray in the Lord’s prayer that His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. This is part of our task in discipling the nations. We are co-heirs with Jesus Christ.

         Since Jesus is seated in the heavenlies and we are seated with Him, we are to learn to set our minds on heavenly things and not on earthly matters. We are in the world but not of the world.

         To gain a heavenly perspective, we need to see the world from above, if you will. This is not easy. It takes practice. We are learning to do this. From the trials in our lives, to our answered and unanswered prayers, to the

Christmas Eve Homily 2018- Light After Darkness

Christmas Eve Homily 2018

Light After Darkness

         The dark of a clear winter night is an awful and majestic place. It is awful in its darkness, in its frigid temperature, in its length. Will the darkness end? Will the sun rise? Will the warmth return to the earth?

         Some of you have spent time in the night or pre-dawn hours waiting for the sun to rise. It is a long wait. Perhaps you have had an all-night drive in the darkness in the long dreary tired fight against sleep that the night occasions. The morning dawn will arouse you like a double shot of espresso, if only you can get there. But the night drags on and the eyes grow heavy with sleep. You cannot even stay awake one hour!

         Or, maybe you were in your favorite hunting spot or an early morning hike to watch the sunrise and in the waiting the dark and the cold and the silence, were slow in their desire to diminish. The night creeps on and as the day grows closer, the cold grows deeper. The cold sets in and while the night is present, even in the glimmer of hope that is the pre-dawn glow, the cold grows deeper and deeper, even down into the bones.

         But the night is also majestic in its splendor. The stars and the moon in the cold courses sing of the majesty of the Creator. They long for the morning, too, so that they must decrease and He must increase. Their distance and their faint light is both awe inspiring and insufficient. There is no light of day. There is no heat. And so even the creation longs for the revelation of the sunrise.

         The saints of old longed to see the consolation of Israel, the one who would save them from their enemies. They had seen the awful majesty of God and yet longed for His glory to fill the earth. 

         It was on a longing night like this that the angel announced to the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night that the savior is born for you this day in the city of David. 

         Our waiting upon God is often like that, cold, long, dark. But dear flock, on this Christmas Eve, let it be known to each one of you that a Savior is born for you who is Christ the Lord. He is the One who will save you from your sins. Of the increase of His government and of His peace there shall be no end. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

         The long wait is over. The sun arises. The light of that longed for day is soon upon us. God has shed His glorious light and the warmth of His Holy Spirit into our hearts and into the heart of all the Earth. Our gift has arrived. It is Christmas. Glory to God.

He Came to Die

This meal is a reminder of the Lord’s Death until He comes again. At this season, we remember the Lord’s birth. This memory is full of happiness and rejoicing. But we must remember God’s purpose in bringing the Son to the Earth. Ultimately, it was to suffer and die for sinners.

We can never really separate the Lord’s birth from His death. And while we remember the Lord’s death as a serious and somber event, it is not a tragically sad event. We are on this side of the cross and are on this side of the Resurrection. His death was not tragic, it was purposeful to the very details. 

The cross was Jesus suffering and dying for sinners but it is our hope and life and health and joy. Our sins are nailed to the cross with Jesus and thus we are free from the condemnation of the law declaring us guilty. By law, guilty. By grace in the death of Christ, not-guilty. That is why we rejoice and take encouragement in this meal that remembers the Lord’s death until He comes. Glory to God in the highest.

Preparing a Place

In many ways, we can never prepare a place for God. Where would you put Him? The guest bedroom does not seem quite good enough. But we ought to prepare a place for the Lord. We do so by preparing our hearts. We come to understand that we need a Savior when we see ourselves as we really are. We are needy. We are sinful. We are unable to save ourselves.

         In this sense, Jesus must get the master bedroom. You move out and He moves in. But not just to get the nicest room. I mean master in the sense of the Sovereign Lord. You move out of the master because you have humbled yourself before the real master. 

         So, prepare yourself for Jesus by confessing sins and acknowledging that He is Lord and that you are His servant. But not just servant, but rather a servant that has been adopted as child and thus exalted with and in Jesus. This truth also makes us want to lay aside the sin which so easily entangles.

Colossians 2:8-20 An Appearance of Wisdom

Colossians 2:8-20

An Appearance of Wisdom

December 2, 2018

Lynchburg, Virginia

EXHORDIUM

         This passage is very helpful for us. There are many schemes that have an appearance of wisdom, that with retrospect, we realize were not wise at all. Generally speaking, the appearance of wisdom is something that appeals to our flesh. At the time when it is appealing, it is easy for us to justify it as wisdom, or appearing to be wisdom. But when we compare it to what we already know to be true, either of God’s character, or of the specific revealed will of God in the Bible, then the appearance of wisdom disappears.

         

EXEGESIS

Col. 2:8  See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 

See to it- This is a command. You have control over whether or not someone takes you captive.

The Body of Christ

The essence of the mystery of the faith long hidden is revealed in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God became man and dwelt among men. Thus, the mystery of the Father is revealed to us in the incarnate Son.

Jesus is the long-expected Messiah. He is the One who saves His people. He is the One who knew no sin and yet became sin on our behalf. He did this that we might boldly come to the Father through His body and blood. Thus, He saves us from our two main enemies, sin and death.

And though He died He yet lives, risen and ascended. And we who are in Him have both died and risen in Christ.

All of this is presented to us in the body and blood of Jesus. We thank God for this meal of Thanksgiving where we apprehend that the essence of our faith is in the body of Christ. We thank Him that in this meal we receive life here and now to our mortal bodies, and what is even so much better, the promise of eternal life in our resurrected bodies.

Faithful Expectation

Advent is a season of waiting. This is a good time to practice the virtue of patience. The Lord is not slack about His promise. However, we sometimes act as if He is. We want things done in our timing and in our way. But the Lord knows best. 

         The Lord Jesus arrived at just the right time in history. God’s people had been waiting for a very long time. They may have even thought it was too long but it wasn’t.

         Anticipation is good. Expectations of God’s blessings are good but we can ruin them if we grow impatient and try to usher in God’s works and God’s will through our world of control. 

         Rest in God and if you have tried to wrest control from God, then confess this impatience and wait upon Him. He will not disappoint you.